Fluid control valves



Aug. 8, 1967 RC. EPPENDAHL 3 5 FLUID CONTROL VALVES Filed April 19, 19s5 luvz -roa PWZQQE C. EPFENDAHL un'sm, can, GnNbLE. g whrsow Avrr-rorlznavs United States Patent 6 Claims. (Cl. 137-596.2)

This invention relates to fluid control valves and is more particularly, though not exclusively applicable to fluid control valves for use in textile machinery.

In textile machinery there are a number of operations in which thread is wound from one bobbin to another. During these winding processes the thread sometimes breaks, and when this occurs, the bobbin on to which the thread is being wound continues to rotate and, if not stopped in time, tends to shed the already wound thread off its ends, particularly in the case of a bobbin driven by engagement with a driving cylinder where the outermost layers of thread tend to creep sideways and fall off the ends of the bobbin.

Various proposals have been made to cut 01f the drive to the bobbin on breakage of the thread, including electrical and mechanical devices, but all of these have been somewhat complicated in operation, while various further proposals have been made in connection with pressurized fluid (particularly pneumatic) devices where, upon breakage of the thread, the valve operates to cause a fluid pressure to be communicated to apparatus for jacking the driving cylinder out of engagement with the bobbin. Such fluid control devices have however not been sufficiently rapid in operation, and in particular have not been sufficiently sensitive to be usable in systems where the tension in the thread is as low as 1 gramme, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a fluid control valve which will be sufiiciently rapid in operation and sutficiently sensitive to be usable in such systems while also being relatively simple in construction.

A fluid control valve according to the present invention includes a body of non-magnetic material, a fluid inlet into the body and an outlet therefrom, a valve member movable in a chamber in the body into and out of engagement with a seating surrounding a port to control the flow through said port, and an operating lever movable about an axis approximately parallel to the direction of movement of the valve member to bring a part carried by the lever into and out of close proximity to the valve member, the valve member and the part at least of said operating lever being of magnetic material and at least one of them carrying or being a permanent magnet so that movement of the operating lever causes movement of the valve member.

Conveniently the chamber is in the form of a cylinder slidable within which is a piston forming the valve member. The operating lever may be pivoted about an axis parallel to that of the cylinder and arranged to be movable to a position in which the part it carries overlies the end of the cylinder, while the piston is biassed towards one end of the cylinder and on movement of the operating lever to the said position moves towards the other end of the cylinder. The valve may be arranged on movement of the piston towards the end of the cylinder adjacent the operating lever to disengage the piston from its seating and allow fluid to pass therethrough.

Movement of the operating lever to open the valve may cause pressurization in a closed system while on movement of the operating lever away from the chamber out of close proximity with the valve member operates means to release the pressure in the system.

The pressure releasing means may comprise a second cylinder whose axis is preferably parallel to that of the first and in which a second piston is arranged on movement of the operating lever to a position in which it overlies the second cylinder to move the piston magnetically to open an outlet port to release the pressure in the closed system and thus release the jacking means.

One feature of the present invention is the combination of a fluid control valve as hereinbefore set forth with apparatus for winding thread on to a bobbin including driving means for driving the bobbin wherein the operating lever is acted upon by the thread and the valve is arranged on breakage of the thread to the bobbin to operate apparatus to disengage the driving means.

A further feature of the present invention is the combination of a fluid control valve as hereinbefore set forth with apparatus for winding thread on to a bobbin, in which the tension of the thread being wound on to the bobbin is of the order of 1 gramme and the operating lever is acted upon by the thread and the valve is arranged on loss of the said tension to operate apparatus to disengage the driving means.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the valve apparatus according to the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section on a larger scale on the line 22 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a similar view to FIGURE 2 but showing the operating lever in position to open the left hand valve, and

FIGURE 4 is a similar View to FIGURE 2 but showing the operating lever in the position to open the right hand valve.

The valve apparatus shown in the figures is applied to apparatus for indicating the presence of thread 1 being wound on to a bobbin (-not shown) driven by a driving cylinder (also not shown) and arranged to bear against the thread 1 is an arm 2 extending from a support 3 which is mounted in bearings 4 for pivotal movement about a fixed shaft 5 carried in the centre of a valve body 6.

The valve body 6 is made of non-magnetic material, for example a light alloy or plastics, and has, as shown more clearly in FIGURES 2-4, two cylinders 7 and 8 symmetrically arranged in it on either side of the shaft 5 with their axes parallel with the axis of the shaft 5. Arranged on these axes at the bases of the cylinders 7 and 8 are outlet ports 9 and 10, while communicating with the side wall of the cylinder 7 is an inlet passage 11, which is in communication with a supply of compressed air (not shown). The outlet port 9 from the cylinder 7 communicates with a passage 12 formed between the outside of the body 6 and a covering plate 13, the passage 12 communicating with, on the one side a passage 14 leading to jacking mechanism operable on being supplied with compressed air to jack the driving cylinder out of engagement with the bobbin, to disengage the drive, and on the other side with a passage 15 formed in the body 6 immediately below the shaft 5 which in turn communicates with an inlet port in the side wall of the cylinder 8, the outlet port 10 of the cylinder 8 being in communication with atmosphere.

Arranged in the cylinders 7 and 8 respectively are pistons 16 and 17, which may be of mild steel, or other suitable magnetic material, and which have placed on their upper surfaces flat permanent magnets 18 which remain attached thereto by magnetic force. The undersides of the pistons 16 and 17 are recessed and have secured to their recesses surfaces sealing surfaces of flexible resilient material 19, the recesses and resilient material being of such depth as to seal olf the ports 9 and 10, which are in the form of projecting nozzles, when the pistons are free to rest thereon under the action of gravity. The cylinders 7 and 8 are sealed at their upper ends by a cover plate 20.

The'pivoting support 3 also carries a permanent magnet 21 so placed that when the body is swung it can overlie either the cylinder 7 or the cylinder 8 and the poles of the permanent magnets 21 and 18 are arranged so as to be mutually attracted towards one another.

The operation of the device is as follows:

In its working position, the arm 2 is so arranged that it will bear gently under the action of gravity, as the device is arranged at a slight angle, against the thread 1 which is held and guided by a centering guide 22. In this position the various members of the valve occupy the positions shown in FIGURES l and 2, while the driving cylinder is maintained in engagement with the bobbin. Should the thread break the pivoting arm 2 will no longer be retained and starts to swing over under the action of gravity in the direction of the arrow X, the movement of which will be accelerated by the magnetic attraction and the magnet 21 will move into a position directly above the magnet 18 on the piston 16. The piston 16 then rises and opens the air passage 11 so that compressed air will flow out of the outlet port 9 and into the passage 14 to actuate the jacking mechanism to disengage the driving cylinder from the bobbin. After'the yarn has been suitably repaired the arm 2 is moved back beyond its normal position as shown in FIGURE 3 so that the magnet 21 comes over the cylinder 8 and piston 17 and raises the piston 17 to open the outlet port 10, thus releasing the pressure in the system and allowing the jacking means to be disengaged. Meanwhile the piston 16 returns to its initial position under the action of gravity to seal the outlet nozzle 9.

So that the jacking mechanism will not produce a negative pressure in the passages 14, 12 and as the bobbin increases in diameter due to the winding of thread thereon a small bleed nozzle 23 is provided of sufliciently small diameter not to interfere with the proper functioning of the system.

The fluid control valve may include springs biassing the pistons so that the valve can be used in any desired position, instead of relying on gravity to return the pistons to their closed position.

The fluid control valve according to the present invention may be used in a variety of applications, for example in connection with thread cutting apparatus used in drawing (or stretching) machines, where if the thread breaks before it reaches the drawing (or stretching) cylinders, it must also be out immediately between the drawing cylinder and the winding on bobbin otherwise it will unwind from the winding on bobbin back on to the drawing cylinder.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fluid control valve including a body of non-magnetic material, a chamber in said body in the form of a cylinder having a fluid inlet passage and a fluid outlet passage communicating therewith, at least one of said passages opening into the said chamber via a port, a valve member in the form of a piston slidable in said cylinder into and out of engagement with a seating surrounding said port to control flow of fluid therethrough, and an operating lever movable about an axis substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the valve member, said operating lever having a part carried by the lever, which upon movement of the lever brings the part into and out of close proximity to the valve member, the valve member and said operating lever being of magnetic material and at least one of them being a permanent magnet so that movement of the operating lever causes movement of the valve member. 7

2. A fluid control valve as claimed in claim 1 in which the operating lever is pivoted about an axis parallel to that of the cylinder'and is arranged to be movable to a position in which the part it carries overlies the end of the cylinder, while the piston is biased towards one end of the cylinder and on movement of the operating lever to the said position moves'towards the other end of the cylinder.

3. A fluid control valve as claimed in claim 2 in which the valve is arranged, on movement of the piston towards the end of the cylinder adjacent the operating lever, to disengage the piston from its seating and allow fluid to pass therethrough.

4. A fluid control valve as claimed in claim 1 in which movement of the operating lever to open the valve causes pressurization of a closed system while movement of the operating lever away from the chamber out of close proximity with the valve member operates means to release pressure in the system.

5. A fluid control valve as claimed in claim 4 in which the pressure releasing means comprises a second cylinder whose axis is parallel to that of the first and in which 'a second piston is arranged on movement of the operating lever to a position in which it overlies the second cylinder to move the piston magnetically to open anoutlet port to release the pressure in the closed system.

6. A fluid control valve as claimed in claim 5 in which the outlet port is formedas a projecting nozzle in one end of the cylinder while the piston has a part of resilient material in its face arranged to close the port when the piston is adjacent that end of the cylinder.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 471,613 11/1914 France.

M. CARY NELSON, Primary Examiner.

R. I. MILLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A FLUID CONTROL VALVE INCLUDING A BODY OF NON-MAGNETIC MATERIAL, A CHAMBER IN SAID BODY IN THE FORM OF A CYLINDER HAVING A FLUID INLET PASSAGE AND A FLUID OUTLET PASSAGE COMMUNICATING THEREWITH, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID PASSAGES OPENING INTO THE SAID CHAMBER VIA A PORT, A VALVE MEMBER IN THE FORM OF A PISTON SLIDABLE IN SAID CYLINDER INTO AND OUT OF ENGAGEMENT WITH A SEATING SURROUNDING SAID PORT TO CONTROL FLOW OF FLUID THERETHROUGH, AND AN OPERATING LEVER MOVABLE ABOUT AN AXIS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE VALVE MEMBER, SAID OPERATING LEVER HAVING A PART CARRIED BY THE LEVER, WHICH UPON MOVEMENT OF THE LEVER BRINGS THE PART INTO AND OUT OF CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE VALVE MEMBER, THE VALVE MEMBER AND SAID OPERATING LEVER BEING OF MAGNETIC MATERIAL AND AT LEAST ONE OF THEM BEING OF A PERMANENT MAGNET SO THAT MOVEMENT OF THE OPERATING LEVER CAUSES MOVEMENT OF THE VALVE MEMBER. 